Stippling
by L56895
Summary: Prompt: The team consult with a handsome tattoo artist on a case and Kurt is jealous of his interest in Jane.


A/N: This is based off of a prompt from littlecsuhta on the message boards: _'_ _Would love to see a story where the team has to work with a handsome tattoo artist on a case. And of course, who wouldn't be interested in Janes tattoos in that line of work. Flirting ensues and Weller is all jealous. Thanks._ ' Hope you like it!

I'm happy to accept prompts if anyone has any ideas. I've really enjoyed writing this weekend and given the hiatus we're facing it'll keep me occupied! Feel free to prompt me via PM, review or anonymously via my Tumblr (link in my bio) and I'll see what I can do!

 **Stippling**

'Get to the point, Patterson,' Mayfair pinches the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger and waves a hand dismissively at the screen, 'You can explain _how_ you worked it later, right now I'm more interested in how pertinent this is to our case files.'

'That's the thing,' Patterson's smile falters slightly at the interruption but she breezes through, tapping at her tablet and highlighting a familiar section of Jane's hip. Superficially the tattoo looks like a shaded drawing of a machine cog, but they know by now not to take anything on her body at face value, 'All of our cases so far have implied corruption, but _this_ tattoo,' she points at the screen, 'I haven't been able to match it up to any cases, addresses, logos, anything on the web or dark web at all. Until Reade brought this to my attention.'

The screen shifts and the image flicks aside to make way for a copy of a business card, blown out of proportion and garishly coloured compared to the understated tattoos on Jane's skin.

'A tattoo parlour?' Kurt raises an eyebrow and briefly makes eye contact with Jane, 'You think you've found the person who did this to Jane?'

' _Not_ quite,' Patterson zooms in on the tattoo and brings up a photo of a young man in the frame, 'I thought maybe. This particular tattoo uses a very specific method of stippling to create a watercolour effect. Now, Jane's tattoo is in greyscale, like a lot of her others, but _this guy,_ ' the portrait enlarges, 'is well known within tattoo circles for being the only guy in the state who is worth going to for this sort of effect. He's masterful, he always works in full colour and none of his portfolio work matches this specific design, which is why nothing came up when we image searched this particular one. But the link is worth exploring, I think. My best guess is this tattoo is leading us to him by imitating his work. _Not_ that he had anything to do with tattooing Jane.'

'How can you be sure?' Kurt watches Jane's face while Mayfair and Patterson study the images on the screen. Her attention is focussed, completely, on the screen in front of them; but she shifts her hip and drops her hand to brush her fingers gently against his knuckles. He squeezes her hand, once, and folds his arms back in front of him. He refocuses on Patterson.

'His name is Joseph Pesaro and he's spent the past year travelling around Europe with two buddies. Passports confirm it, and one of the friends has a blog that's full of photos of them all in front of every landmark from Nelson's column to the Temple of Zeus.'

'So he wasn't in the country when I would have been tattooed, right?' Jane steps forward, 'They were too new when I got here?'

'Exactly,' Patterson taps again at her tablet and the screen shifts to an address, 'Still, worth checking out, don't you think?'

The plan is to go in without heavy reinforcements, the argument being that an artist fresh from backpacking poses little threat, but Kurt feels an unease in his gut regardless. He insists that they pull up every file on this guy and Patterson finds nothing more noteworthy than a college drunk and disorderly caution. Still, as they prepare the car he grips Jane's arm and turns her to face him in the elevator.

'If there's anything about this guy, anything at all that's familiar,' she knows what he means, he can tell in the way her eyes cast downwards.

'Patterson said-'

'I know what she said. But if she's wrong and he brings back _anything,_ just say the word and I'll drag him down here-'

He's silenced by her fingertips on his cheeks, her breath as she brings his face down to touch her lips to the corner of his mouth. Since their undercover operation with Rich Dotcom he has noticed her becoming more tactile with him, bolder in the moments they find themselves alone. He likes it, but he knows that it can only mean them spiralling deeper. Already she holds most of his concentration, most of his attention and he can feel his focus flagging every time he feels the warmth of her next to him.

'Let's go,' he mumbles against her mouth as the lift comes to a halt.

Sometimes he forgets, when he looks at her, how limited her experience is and he laughs at the look of shock on her face when they walk into the tattoo parlour.

'They're something aren't they?' he chuckles and she wanders slowly round the perimeter of the store, touching the designs tacked on the walls. They're mainly tribal at the front, but towards the back wall he begins to recognise the distinctive pattern Patterson showed them earlier in the day and her attention is captured. Behind him, Tasha clears her throat and calls out towards the back room. There's a crash somewhere in the distance and a man stumbles out, wiping his hands on a towel.

'Sorry guys, cleaning the back, how can I help you?'

His face is open, younger than he looks in his photograph, but unmistakably the man they've come here to find. He's bronzed from travels, flannel shirt rolled up to reveal tanned arms, and artwork snakes up from his collar up to his jaw. Kurt's eyes are drawn back to Jane, to the similarities between them and the way they fit in this place together.

'Joseph Pesaro?' Reade is the first to speak and steps forward with an offered hand, the man shakes it with a grin.

'I prefer Joe, but I'm your guy,' he shakes each of their hands in turn- firm handshake, instantly likeable- but Kurt sees the instant curiosity on his face when he turns to Jane. He circles her, not predatory but still more admiring than Kurt would like. He clears his throat.

'I'm Special Agent Kurt Weller, this is my team and we'd like to ask you some questions regarding an ongoing investigation of ours,' Joe's interest in Jane is momentarily broken and he raises an eyebrow at Kurt.

'Questions for me? You sure?' his confusion is genuine as far as Kurt can tell and he chalks a point to Patterson for being so sure this guy had nothing to do with Jane.

'It's nothing to be concerned about, Mr Pesaro,' Reade stepped past Kurt and gestured towards Jane, 'We'd like your input on one of our colleague's tattoos. It's a long story and we can't really go in to the specifics but we have reason to believe that one of her tattoos was designed as a homage to you and we'd like to know why.'

Jane steps closer and tugs at the tank top underneath her leather jacket. She can pull it up far enough to reveal the tattoo on her hip and Joe's eyes widen. He crouches next to her and runs his fingers over the ink. Kurt feels the heat rising in his face and he clenches his jaw. Jane's eyes flicker towards him briefly, but the discomfort is clearly all his and she makes no move away from Joe.

'It's definitely not my work,' he looked up at Jane and winked, 'I'd remember tattooing you. But yeah, it's meant to look like mine, I'm sure.'

'How can you be so sure?' Jane's voice is calm, despite the fact that this guy's fingers are still on her hip and his face is still staring intently at her skin.

'Because I once drew something exactly like this for my ex-girlfriend,' now he meets Kurt's eye, the same raise of the eyebrow, 'What's going on here?'

'That's what we're trying to find out,' Kurt stepped forward, closer to Jane to impose himself between them. It was an obvious move, he knew, and Tasha would give him hell later on but the sight of his hands on her skin was enough to rile him, 'Can I ask who your ex-girlfriend was?'

Joe shrugged, 'Jennifer McCarthy. We dated in college but I haven't seen her in years. I'd recognise that picture anywhere though. She thumb tacked it above her dorm bed. Saw it a lot if you know what I mean.'

'Wait, go back a sec. McCarthy, as in Senator McCarthy?' Reade looks incredulous.

'His daughter. Never liked me much, apparently an art student wasn't good enough for his daughter. She eventually dumped me on Daddy's orders. But that was a long time ago. Like I said I haven't spoken to or heard from her in years.'

'Tattoo must be pointing towards McCarthy administration, maybe something to do with Jennifer's time at college, someone who knows the connection with this place,' Reade nodded towards Joe, 'Thank you for your time, Sir. We'll be in touch if we have any further questions.'

'No problem. Glad I could help, even if I have no idea what this is about,' Joe laughs and Kurt hates how easy he is with them, the way Jane's lips curl up into a smile at him. He swallows and curls up his fists at his sides as Joe reaches out to touch Jane's shoulder, 'And hey, if you ever want to add to that impressive collection hit me up. I'll even give you discount. I always did like an enigma, especially an attractive one.' He winks and the colour creeps in to Jane's face. Kurt taps her shoulder gently and jerks his head towards the door and Reade and Zapata's retreating backs.

'Let's go.'

'What the hell was that back there?' the words are out of his mouth the second Tasha and Reade leave the debrief room, before he has time to think, and Jane's eyes widen. Then, the mask descends and he watches her close herself off from him. He had paced his way through the entire debrief, as Patterson brought up old records of McCarthy's administration and every conceivable link to Joe and the tattoo of Jane's hip. Jane had watched him carefully all the while and she stalled in the room with him even after the rest of the team had left.

'What was _what,_ exactly?' her face is hard, unreadable as she speaks and he hates himself for not being able to express himself in the ways he wants. For always being brusque, unreachable, always sabotaging himself.

'I'm sorry,' he backs away and she softens, 'It's just, seeing you there, with Joe. Seeing the way he looked at you. I felt like you enjoyed it and I can't handle that. I'm sorry.'

She sighs, and leans back against the wall.

'I did enjoy it, to a point,' she said softly, 'It was nice to have someone who didn't look at me like I was a freak, or a puzzle to solve, for once. I've never had that, do you understand, never. No one ever looks at _me_. So, yeah, I liked it, until he called me a mystery… but I still won't apologise for that.'

He closes his eyes briefly and comes to stand next to her against the wall. For a few moments they stand there in silence, the only sound the gentle drip of the overhead pipes. She's not looking at him, he can sense it, and he takes the chance to compose himself before he makes things between them worse.

'You shouldn't apologise. I was out of line and I'm sorry,' she exhales, softly next to him and finally turns to face him, 'But for what it's worth, you're not a puzzle to me.'

She smiles, slightly sadly at him, 'Well then, what am I? To you.'

'A gift, Jane,' he touches her jaw gently, 'I look at you and I see everything coming right in my world. I just can't face losing you.'


End file.
